Waste Management captures a golden double

Waste Management captures a golden double: 2005 Company of the Year;
CEO Kim Ellis 2005 Executive of the Year

A golden year for Waste Management was capped off last night with the company being named Company of the Year and its managing director, Kim Ellis, being named Executive of the Year at the annual Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards.

Ellis took the award ahead of fellow Executive of the Year finalists, Michael Daniell, CEO of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and leading energy industry executive, Doug Heffernan, CEO of Mighty River Power.

Waste Management was named company of the Year ahead of two other finalists, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and a past double award winner, Fletcher Building.

In fact, it’s a double for Waste Management in another sense too, the company having previously been voted Company of the Year at these same awards back in 1996.

Since that time, Waste Management has consistently delivered around 20 percent compound revenue growth in each and every year, and has successfully straddled the Tasman through an ambitious and now highly productive expansion foray into Australia.

Judges considered Waste Management to be one of New Zealand’s most consistent and well-managed businesses to emerge over the past two decades. They considered it a model enterprise, showing leadership in governance and management excellence and embracing enlightened social and environmental standards.

Of CEO Kim Ellis, judges cited his incredible track record of consistent growth, strong profit performance, strategic implementation and delivery of best management practice as elements that made him an exceptional business leader.

They regarded him as a thoughtful leader who puts great store by doing it right, looking after his people and thinking about the impact of his enterprise’s actions on the community and the environment.

The QBE Insurance Chairperson of the Year was also named at the gathering of more than 700 industry leaders last night (Thursday 1 December, 2005).

AFFCO chair, Sam Lewis took this title ahead of fellow finalists, Wayne Boyd, who chairs Auckland International Airport, Freightways, Meridian Energy and Vulcan Steel, and John Palmer, currently chair of Air New Zealand.

Judges said it was unusual for an individual who chairs only one board to be nominated as a finalist for this award, but Sam Lewis was an exception because his performance has been exceptional.

When he first took the chair at AFFCO, he realised the company’s predicament was so grim that the board had to take charge. He has effectively led the company back from the knacker’s yard. While conceding there is still work to be done, judges recognised that Lewis had added value back into the business, restored much of its 100-year-old reputation and delivered a management team and a position for the company that would take it into a new century of operation.

Other awards presented last night (Thursday1December, 2005) included:

NZIM / Eagle Technology Young Executive of the Year Award, won by Grant Watson, vice-president operations, McDonald’s Restaurants (NZ) Ltd. Judges described Watson as an impressive young executive blessed with entrepreneurial flair and extraordinary management skill.

His career has been built at McDonald’s, where he has progressed from part-time crew member to running the company’s entire operations function in New Zealand.

Judges said Watson is an executive who has clearly achieved well against international standards and has done so by recognising and responding to local and world-wide pressures for responsible eating. He is a team leader of exceptional skills that would transfer easily to any other business sector.

Grant Watson took the Young Executive of the Year title ahead of fellow finalists, Therese Walsh, general manager corporate services for the New Zealand Rugby Union, and Simon Doig, general manager – exports and South Island marketing manager for Solid Energy.

AUT Business Ethics Award, won by Honda New Zealand for its environmental programme that places emphasis on ultra-low-emission new vehicles and a complementary TreeFund programme that provides funding for the planting of native trees on the back of new car sales.

Honda took this award ahead of fellow finalists Fidelity Life Assurance Company and its sponsorship of the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation; IAG New Zealand and its community partnerships with loss and accident prevention organisations; and Mighty River Power, nominated for its waste management practices.

Marsh Most Improved Performance Award, won by AFFCO, for the transformation of a company considered on its last legs just a few short years ago and now, with a 258 percent profit turnaround, looking forward to a very positive future in a tough market sector.

Other finalists for this award were freighting and logistics company, Mainfreight and New Zealand Post.

Colliers International Best Growth Strategy, won by navigation technology company Navman. A finalist in the emerging enterprise of the year category in this award in 2001, Navman has gone on to become a global technology enterprise, harnessing heavy-hitting venture capital and marketing expertise in key markets around the world.

Other finalists for this category were Vector and Waste Management.

Deloitte Emerging Enterprise Award, won by payments solutions company Cadmus Technology. Cadmus is a rapidly growing tech company which, through strategic investment in people and product development, has built a solid and secure home market business that provides the foundation needed to venture into the sizeable global payments technology market.

Cadmus took this award ahead of super premium vodka company, 42 Below, and the world’s now largest manufacturer of quartz crystals for GPS receivers, Rakon.

A special Designworks Enterprise IG Visionary Leader Award was also presented to The Warehouse and Tindall Foundation founder and leader, Stephen Tindall.

As well as his outstanding business leadership, Tindall was recognised for his establishment of the Tindall Foundation and for his major contributions to the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, Zero Waste New Zealand, a number of new technology start-ups and such bodies as the Prime Minister’s Enterprise Council, the Science and Innovation Council and the Growth and Innovation Advisory Council as well as his support of education groups and charities.

ENDS

© Scoop Media